Slow Credit, Fragmented Payments Hold Back Growing Businesses

U.S. companies with annual revenue of $1 million to $50 million are falling into a financing gap between small-business banking products and enterprise treasury systems. As they add markets, staff and payment relationships, fragmented accounting, payments and credit tools provide less real-time visibility into liquidity. Technology and financial-services firms working across several payment providers are especially exposed to mismatches between incoming and outgoing funds, turning strong sales growth into short-term cash shortages and delayed expansion.

PYMNTS Intelligence and i2c surveyed 1,011 U.S. businesses from Feb. 10 to Feb. 26, 2026, for a report released in April. While 87% said they had sufficient or more-than-sufficient credit, 46% of larger, fast-growing firms frequently missed opportunities because financing was too small, slow or rigid. The study also found 89% of that cohort had postponed at least one strategic investment, while only 43% said their financial tools fit their current scale.